الليدي إيزابيل برتون في دمشق

إيزابيل برتون 1831-1896 هي قرينة الكابتن ريتشارد برتون قنصل بريطانيا العظمى في دمشق 1869-1871 وقد أقامت معه في مدينتنا الحبيبة لفترة تقل عن العامين كان أحد ولربما أهم نتائجها كتابها الشهير "الحياة الداخلية في سوريا و فلسطين و الديار المقدسة" الذي نشر عام 1875. الكتاب موزع في مجلدين يبلغ عدد صفحاته الإجمالي حوالي 700 وهو موجود بالمجان على الإنترنت. لهذا المؤلّف في نظري أهمية خاصة نظراً لبحثه في بعض المواضيع التي  لا يتطرق إليها المستشرقون و لا الكتاب المحليون عموماً إلا فيما ندر و شكل مبتسر نظراً للفصل بين الجنسين في الشرق الأدنى . قامت السيدة برتون برسم لوحة لدمشق و محيطها من وجهة نظر نسائية في وقت لم تمتلك سوريا فيه لا كوليت خوري ولا غادة السمان وكانت سيدات سوريا  في غالبيتهن العظمى  أميّات.

لن أحاول تلخيص الكتاب و لعل أفضل ما أستطيعه تسليط الأضواء على نقاط معينة قلّما تناولها الآخرون. لن أقوم بتلطيف أو تجميل ما كتبته الليدي برتون وعلّه خيراً وأبقى أن أقدّم لمحة سريعة عن خلفيتها و هكذا يستطيع القرّاء أن يستخلصوا نتائجهم كل لنفسه. الليدي برتون كاثوليكية شديدة التقى و الورع. أحبّت و إحترمت زوجها إلى أقصى الحدود وكانت إنجليزية فخورة تجلّ الملكة فيكتوريا وتؤمن إيماناً مطلقاً بأفضلية البريطانيين و تفوّقهم على كافة أمم الأرض وإن أعطت -كرماً منها- الميدالية الفضية للفرنسيين. لم يمنعها هذا من حبّ دمشق على علاتها و علّ هذا مرتبط إلى حد ما بما تعنيه المدينة لمسيحي ملتزم وكان حزنها بالغاً عندما خسر زوجها منصبه القنصلي وتعيّن عليها أن تلحقه إلى إنجلترا. ظلّ أمل العودة إلى دمشق يداعب خيالها لعدة سنوات بعدها.  

لم يكن الإنطباع الأول للسيّدة برتون عن دمشق يتناسب مع فكرتها المسبقة عن المدينة كجنّة الله على الأرض وككثير من الرحالة الأوروبين خاب أملها وليس هذا بالمستغرب ممّن عاش حياته في شمال وغرب أوروبا بين مياه لا تنضب وأشجار دائمة الخضار وتراب شديد الخصوبة. ما يعطي دمشق سمعتها الأسطورية هو النقلة الفجائية من صحراء قاحلة إلى واحة غناء وهذا ما أدركته الليدي برتون لاحقاً وفي هذا الصدد تعرّضت لرواية محمّد عندما توقف في المنطقة المعروفة بالقدم (نسبة إلى قدم النبي) حتى لا يدخل الجنة الأرضية كون مطمعه جنة السموات. كان تعليقها على هذه الرواية أنّ جنة دمشق تتجلّى بكامل حسنها من مرتفعات قاسيون وليس من منطقة القدم وهذا بدهي لكل دمشقي قبل وبعد دلال الشمالي. بناء عليه أقامت مسز برتون في الصالحيّة في الأشهر الباردة (كانت الصالحيّة تكشف دمشق والسبب غياب الأبنية العالية في ذلك الزمان) و كانت هي و زوجها يقصدان دمشق على ظهور الدواب للذهاب إلى القنصليّة البريطانيّة أو زيارة الأصدقاء إلى آخره أمّا فصل الصيف فكانت تقضيه في بلودان. علاوة على ذلك قامت بزيارة عدة مناطق في سوريا و أهّمها تدمر كما قامت برحلات إلى لبنان و فلسطين معظم الوقت على ظهور الدواب في زمن لم تعرف سوريا فيه لا السيارات ولا القطارات ومعظم الطرق لم تسمح حتّى بعبور العربات التي تجرها الخيول. 

وصلت الليدي برتون إلى دمشق للمرة الأولى في 31 كانون أول 1869 و نزلت في فندق دميتري "الوحيد" في دمشق ومن وصفه يتبين أنّه بيت شامي تقليدي تمّ تحويله إلى نزل لزوار المدينة الأجانب ولم تستسغ الزائرة طعامه ولا خمره ناهيك عن شكواها من الشوارع المحفورة و القذرة. في كل الأحوال لم تطل إقامتها فيه إذ أتى زوجها ليصطحبها معه بعد وصولها بقليل.

في الصفحات التالية تنتقل السيّدة إلى وصف معالم المدينة وتدّعي أنّ المباني الكبيرة الوحيدة فيها ثلاث: الجامع الأموي و القلعة و السرايا ثم تعرج على أهمّ شخصيات المدينة و هم الوالي والمشير و أمير الحج و قائد الباشي بوزوق و الأمير عبد القادر الجزائري تقوم بعدها بوصف محمل وقافلة الحجّ بالتفصيل. يلي ذلك جولة في أسواق دمشق من سوق الأروام أو اليونان (لاحقاً غرب سوق الحميدية) إلى سوق الكتب في المسكيّة.  

تعليق السيدة برتون على عادة تدخين الأرجيلة مثير للإهتمام فهي تنصح دون تحفّظ كل من أراد معاشرة النساء في دمشق أن يتعلم التدخين وأن يقدّم التبغ لضيوفه ويتناوله كضيف زائر. وتضيف إلى وصفها الدقيق للأرجيلة نصيحة ثمينة لبنات جنسها وهي أن يوفّرن التبغ لبعولتهن في البيت إذا كن لا يردن لهم أن  "يصيعوا"  ويبحثوا عنه في أمكنة أخرى قد تكون مشبوهة السمعة. 

قدرت الليدي برتون عدد سكان دمشق بحوالي 120,000-150,000 بجميع طوائفهم أما عن العلاقة بين هذه الطوائف فيحسن أن أترجم ما قالته حرفياً و لكن يجب الأخذ بعين إعتبار أن مجزرة 1860 كانت حديثة العهد وقتها:

"السنيون يكفّرون الشيعة وكلاهما يكرهون الدروز. الكل يمقت النصيرية. الموارنة يحبّون نفسهم فقط والجميع يبغضونهم. الروم الأورثودكس يستقبحون الروم الكاثوليك واللاتين. الجميع يزدرون اليهود". 

وصفت الليدي برتون سوريا  كمكان تفشت فيه الأمراض كالزحار و الرمد و "الحمّى السورية" التي قصدت فيها على الأغلب الملاريا. العناية الطبّية الجدّية شبه معدومة بإستثناء حفنة من الأطبّاء الأجانب و البعثات التبشيريّة. طبيب دمشق الوحيد وقتها فرنسي إسمه نيكورا مات عام 1874. السيدة برتون تفهم في الطب أكثر من نطاسييّ سوريا. شوارع دمشق ترتع فيها الكلاب الشاردة التي تتغذى على الجيف. 

بالنسبة لنساء دمشق تدعي الليدي برتون أنّهن لسن جميلات و أنّها لم تجد في كل البيوت التي زارتها في سوريا أكثر من ثلاث أو أربع نساء يتمتعن بالجمال وفقاً لمعايير أوروبا وتضيف أنّ الجمال السوري ليس فقط نادراً و لكنّه أيضاً سريع الزوال. تعدّد الزوجات هو القاعدة في سوريا (كلام فارغ بالطبع إلّا في حالة الأغنياء) ثم تقوم مسز برتون بإلقاء محاضرة طويلة على السوريّات ترسم فيها صورة مثالية للزواج في الغرب بينما تستمع الدمشقيّات المسكينات في إنبهار لحكمة الزائرة المقطّرة. 

تثير الليدي برتون موضوع بعث المسيحية في دمشق فتقدّر نقلاً عن مصادر إعتبرتها موثوقة عدد المسلمين الذين إعتنقوا المسيحية في دمشق بحوالي 25,000 شخص و إن لم يزيد عدد الذين جاهروا بإرتدادهم عن 400. 

السوريّون ساديّون يعذّبون الحيوانات بسبب و بدون سبب سواء كانت شاردة كالكلاب (مقولة تناقضها بعض المصادر الغربيّة على الأقلّ) أو مروّضة و مدجّنة كالخيول. 

هناك فرق كبير بين دماغ السوري و دماغ الإنجليزي. السوريّون يتعلمون بسرعة هائلة و هم ذوي ذكاء متوقّد ويستطيعون بغريزتهم أن يكتسبوا ما يلزم للإنجليزي عام كامل لإستيعابه ولكن ليس لديهم جلد أو مثابرة وينفجر دماغهم إذا حمّلته أكثر مما يحتمل بينما لا حدود لما يمكن أن يتعلّمه البريطاني.

يتعين على المسيحييّن المتمدّنين في الغرب أن يكونوا قدوة للمسيحيين الغير متمدّنين في الشرق. كثير من الكنائس السوريّة في حالة بائسة وتحتاج إلى الدعم. بلودان المسيحيّة لم تكن تملك كنيسة وبالتالي تعين على الليدي برتون أن تذهب إلى كنيسة الزبداني يوم الأحد. 

الكتاب طويل ولكّنه سلس و ممتع خصوصاً الجزء الأول ويبقى شاهد عيان على دمشق وسوريا في أواخر العهد العثماني وإن لم يكن شاهداً  "من أهله". قد يعترض البعض وبحقّ أن رؤية الكاتبة منحازة وحتّى عنصريّة ولكن قلّ من كانت رؤيتهم حياديّة بالكامل و منزّهة. 

الليدي إيزابيل برتون

بيت الليدي إيزابيل برتون في حي الصالحية

فتاة سورية في خدمة الليدي إيزابيل برتون

الجامع الأموي

دمشق من الصالحية و قاسيون

https://books.google.com/books?id=gF4BAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=2DuQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Captain Richard Burton

Richard Burton 1821-1890 was a British diplomat, an orientalist, and a linguist. He occupied among others the position of Great Britain's Consul in Damascus 1869-1871. The Ottoman Empire and Great Britain enjoyed cordial relations throughout most of the 19th century. The British assisted the Ottomans during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign 1798-1801 and helped them evict Ibrahim Pasha and the Egyptian army from Syria in 1841. The second half of the 19th century witnessed recurrent British-Ottoman collaboration against Russia's incursions. The Turks used to affectionately call the British ambassador in Constantinople "the Great Elchi".

Captain Burton mastered several languages. He wrote and translated several books. He had enough acquaintance with the religion of Islam that many assumed he was a Muslim which made it possible for him to enter the holy city of Mecca as such. His stay in Damascus was a busy and fruitful one despite political upheavals and sectarian tensions (the memory of the 1860 massacre was still fresh). He befriended quite few Damascene notables and enjoyed close friendship with Emir Abdul Qadir al-Jazaeri. He also made several powerful enemies on account of his proverbial honesty and impartiality (so at least was the opinion of his spouse, Lady Isabel Burton who loved and respected him tremendously). 

Captain Burton was recalled from Damascus by the British Government after a relatively short stay. The reasons (always according to Ms. Burton) were threefold: 

1. His intervention to protect poor debtors from prominent Jewish usurers who, though Damascene, were British protégés. Lady Burton would not identify them by name but she did describe them pejoratively as "Shylocks" while she asserted her endless love and respect for Jews in general. Be that as it may, those usurers appealed to leading Jews in Great Britain namely Sir Moses Montefiore, Sir Francis Goldsmid, the Rothschlids. It was inevitable that some would suspect the Burtons of harboring anti-Semitic tendencies.

2. Captain Burton's intervention in a dispute between the Jews of Nazaeth and its Ortgodox Christians. This time he sided with the Jews.

3. The perfidy of Damacus' Ottoman Governor, (1865-1871) Rashid Pasha who was to be deposed shortly after the recall of Captain Burton. 

https://books.google.com/books?id=gF4BAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=2DuQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Expansion of Damascus 1860-1923, the Northern Quarters

Unlike the Muhajireen Quarter which was divided into spacious and regular lots through central planning, the expansion of the urban tissue outside the wall of the Old City into the Amara Barranyia Quarter took place in an individualistic, random, and gradual manner. Private investors were to guide this process that spanned several decades and converted numerous gardens into housing units. The dwellings were often centered around a cul-de-sac or dead-end and were relatively small and mostly irregular in shape, following the countour of the garden they replaced. The housing clusters correspond to "irrigation units", that is the gardens formerly grouped around creeks derived from the branches of the River Barada. Those quarters were almost exclusively residential and therefore boasted no important governmental, economic, or religious institutions. The the east of this neighborhood is located the more important extensions dependent on Aleppo Street were we find one church and two hospitals. See in the attached diagram is Baghdad Street constructed in 1925 under the French Mandate. 


http://www.amazon.fr/Damas-Urbanisme-architecture-Jean-Luc-Arnaud/dp/2742752919/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454220795&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=damas+urbanism+et+architecture

Maktab Anbar

The house of Youssef Afandi Anbar was being constructed during the stay of Lady Isabel Burton (wife of the British Consul) in Damascus 1870-1871. This is what she had to say in this regard in her book "The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land" Volume I page 172:

" Khawaja Ambar, another Jew, is also building a palace, but it is in more modem style, and therefore less pleasing to me. The fashionable luxury is rich, but too rich ; Lisbona's (1) is tasteful as well as old. However, no one can find fault with Khawaja Ambar's idea of comfort He has attached to his house a private synagogue and Turkish bath, and he is buying up all the old tenements around him to spread his establishment over as much ground as he can; unhappily he is also burning their carved wood and ancient ornaments, in which he sees no grace and beauty, and laughs at me for my heartache."

Yusuf Afandi Anbar was born around 1820 as an Ottoman subject. He lived for a long time in India and started, after his return, building the largest Damascene residence of the 19th Century at the location of the late 17th Century house of Omar al-Safarjalani. The construction was initiated in 1867 but with the beginning of the 1870's, Anbar became so heavily indebted that he had to abandon his ambitious project and leave Damascus for London. The Ottoman State took over the building to found the first secondary school in Damascus 1887-1888.

The third photo is of a ceiling of a hall of the Maktab. It follows the new style spread from Europe to Ottoman Damascus via Constantinople where colored canvas replaced the delicately painted and ornamented wood. 

(1) Lisbona was a wealthy Damascene Jew and the owner of a magnificent house that, according to Lady Burton, was "the most beautiful house of Damascus” second only to the Azm Palace.

Damascus, Bab (Gate) of Kaysan

Bab (Gate) Kaysan (under the Romans the Gate of Saturn). According to the New Testament, this would the place where St. Paul escaped Damascus as related in KJV 2 Corinthians 11.32-33:

32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: 33 and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

The Bibilical text raises a controversy about the legal status of the City of Damascus at the time, was it ruled by the Romans or the Nabateans (Aretas was a Nabatean ethnarch) and, if the latter, what was the nature of the retationship between the two powers? Also disputed is the exact location of St. Paul's departure from the city. Be that as it may, the Chapel of Saint Paul claims the honor of Paul's descent. It is constructed from the remains of an Arab gateway (that succeeded that of the Romans) blocked under the Ottomans. The Greek Catholics turned those remains into a chapel in the 1920-30's. The Australian historian Ross Burns raises doubts that such a closely guarded spot would be a likely choice for a clandestine getaway.

Azm Palace

The edifice is located south of the Omayyad Mosque. It was constructed on the space formerly occupied by Dar al-Zahab (the House of Gold), the palace of the Mameluke Governor of Damascus, Emir Tengiz built in the first half of the 14th century of the Common Era. It is tthought that this space roughly corresponds to the location of al-Khadraa, the residence of Muwayia the first Omayyad Caliph (7th century C.E.) and -prior to that- the palace of the Byzantine Governor of Damascus.

The construction of the Azm Palace started in the year 1749 and lasted 2+ years. Asaad Pasha al-Azm, then Governor of Damascus was subsequently deposed and strangulated as ordered by the sultan in the year 1758,. His possessions were confiscated. The fortunes of the Azm Dynasty, however, were to recover few short years later. To make a long story short, the palace was to remain in the family until it was purchased by the French Government from 68 descendants of Asaad Pasha in the year 1922 to be converted into the French Institute of Archeology and Islamic Art. The Palace had served as as residence for General Sarail, the French High Commissioner when it was attacked by an angry mob in October 1925 during the Great Syrian Revolution. The rebels burnt the edifice, looted its furtniture, and destroyed priceless collections of old photographs of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, etc.

The palace was eventually restored under the supervision of the French architect and urbanist Michel Ecochard, relying on the images which the illustrious French photographer Bonfils had taken around the year 1885.

Photo circa 1950 taken from the window of a hall on the first floor. Seen in front is the courtyard of the Haramlik (women and family quarters) and in the background the Omayyad Mosque with the Eagle Dome (Qubbat al-Nisr).

Aspects de l'ancienne Damas Abdul Hak, Sélim

Directeur Général des antiquités et des musées Planches de Khaled Moaz

Citadel of Damascus, the Northeast Tower

In its current configuration, the Citadel of Damascus was constructed under the Ayyubid, at the beginning of the 13th century C.E. It had had to confront two major challenges throughout its long history since. 1. Ghazan was the first Mongol conqueror to embrace Islam. He raided Syria towards the end of 1299. Damascus surrendered without a fight in January 1300 but the Citadel held out. The invaders subsequently erected their trebuchets in the courtyard of the Omayyad Mosque aiming their projectiles at the recalcitrant fortress with the results that the quarters between the latter and the temple were severely damaged. Ghazan's efforts to reduced the Citadel were frustrated and he eventually had to withdraw but not before unleasing his troops on the defenseless city, particulary the Salihyia Quarter that was looted and its inhabitants massacred or violated.

2. The second, and more formidable test came a full century later when the Asian hordes under Tamerlane laid siege to Damascus in 1401 (contrary to a commonly held belief Tamerlane was a Turk and not a Mongol though he admired and faithfully imitated the Mongols war tactics). Once more, the city surrendered peacefully to the invader; and once more, the Citadel denied him access. Like ghazan, Tamerlane positioned his ballistic machines in the courtyard of the Omayyad Mosque but this time his efforts were crowned with success as his engineers managed to mine and destroy the northwest tower therefore opening a breach in the massive fortifications. The small garrison surrendered on February 25 and was put to the sword. As the exhausted Damascenes failed to procure the huge tribute demanded by the rulthless victor. Tamerlane unleashed his thugs on the city on March 16 to rape, kill, and burn. After the rampage had run its course, the city's artisans and craftsmen were rounded up and deported to Samarkand. Some of Timurs apologists justify the massacre as a payback for the Omayyad's persecution of Ali's followers 700 years prior. Aspects de l'ancienne Damas

Abdul Hak, Sélim

Directeur Général des antiquités et des musées Planches de Khaled Moaz

Damascus, the Tombstone of Father Thomas of Sardinia,

Visit the tomb of Father Thomas and mourn
An apostolic missionary to Damascus, preaching and displaying his solicitude
Slaughtered by the Jews, only parts of his remains were found
Dated February 5th, here lie the remains of his bones
1840

The tombstone of the grave containing the alleged remains of Father Thomas of Sardinia, an Apostolic Capuchin Missionary. The relic is located in the Latin Chruch of Bab Sharki (the Eastern Gate). Damascus was still a fiefdom of Muhammad Ali -Egypt's formidable Pasha- in February 1840 when father Thomas and his servant mysteriously disappeared without a trace. In a matter of weeks, rumors spread throughout the city as the Christians of Damascus suspected the Jews of the city of abducting and murdering the victims for the purpose of using their blood to bake their matzo. The matter was brought to the attention of Governor Shariff Pasha, Muhammad Ali's lieutenant, who arrested the city's leading rabbis and put them to torture until some of them admitted to committing the crime and much more. Rabbi Abu al-Afia was subjected to "falaqa' (caning) in the presence of his spouse and child until the lacerated flesh of his feet uncovered the underlying bones. Traumatized and humiliated, abu al-Afia "converted" to Islam and adopted the name of Muhammad Afandi. Lest we blame this sorry episode on the barbarity of the benighted Orientals, the "investigation" was conducted by none other than the consul of "civilized" France, Ratti-Menton. Perhaps Mustaf Tlas' silly book "the Matzo of Zion" relied on such high quality "evidence" but there exists no shortage of "pundits" who persist in believing this nonsense even now. 

Damascus, the Church of Saint John Baptist

With the advent of Christianity as the official creed of the Roman Empire, there was no longer a need for colossal temples attracting pilgrims from all over the country. Under the new faith numerous churches were built so each village and each quarter could have its own place of worship. The Temple of Jupiter of Damascus was modified accordingly as its peribolos lost its religious function and acquired instead a distinctly commercial character along with the new name of gamma since its shape resembled this letter of the Greek Alphabet. It was towards the end of the 4th Century AD under the emperor Theodosius that the temple of Jupiter was transformed to the Church of St. John. The tradition of the burial of Saint John the Baptist' s head at this location, however, is no older than the late 6th Century. The location of the main entrance to the church was in the southern wall (whereas that of the pagan temple was in the eastern wall) and it now is blocked. The only remnant of the Byzantine church is a Greek inscription over the blocked southern opening that is an adaption of Psalm 145.13: Thy Kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting Kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. 

The second figure represents the Church of St. John (currently the Umayyad Mosque) at the time of the Arab Muslim conquest according to F. Shafey.

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

Early Muslim architecture by Sir K A C Creswell
Oxford University Press, 1969

Damascus, the Temple of Jupiter

Were piety to be measured by the size of temples the prize would doubtless be contested by pagans who were at least as devout as the adherents of Abrahamic religions as far as this respect is concerned. The area of of Jupiter's temple in Damascus under the Romans (117,000 square meters) was far larger than that of the modern Umayyad Mosque (16,000 square meters). The Roman temple consisted of 3 parts:

Peribolos. That was the outer space of the sanctuary approached from east and west by the propylaeum, the remnants of which could still be seen in the Miskya including the imposing arch of the Gate of Jupiter and the tall adjacent columns. The main entrance to the temple, however, was from the east as the crowds proceeded from the agora through Via Sacra (modern Qaymariya Street) heading towards what we now call Babn Jayrun. The peribolos served as a meeting place for pilgrims and merchants serving, in adition to its religious purpose, as a marketplace and fair ground.

Temenos: the temple proper where sacrifices took place under the supervision of priests. The temenos was approximately 5 meters higher than the peribolos. It was rectangular in shape and its 4 corners were occupied by towers.

Cella: where the idol was located. Entrance to this innermost sanctuary was forbidden to laymen, only priests were allowed into this holiest of the holy where the intimate rituals were performed. The god's image was nevertheless periodically paraded outside in solemn processions before the crowds.

The second figure represents a reconstruction of the eastern facade of the Temple of Jupiter peribolos in the Roman era. It was at the time the sanctuary's main entrance.

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176


R Dussaud - 1922
LE TEMPLE DE JUPITER DAMASCENIEN. ET SES TRANSFORMATIONS AUX EPOQUES CHRETIENNE. ET MUSULMANE

Roman Damascus

The expansion of the City of Damascus continued unabated under the Romans until it reached approximately the same area currently occupied by the intramural town (apart from relatively minor adjustments in the Middle Ages under the Arabs that transformed its shape from classical and rectangular to oval). The Roman city possessed seven doors named after heavenly bodies. Bab Sharqi, or the Eastern Gate is one of the oldest and best preserved Roman monuments in Damascus. The Street Called Straight was also constructed under the Romans to become, with its width of 26 meters, the main artery of the city running from east to west parallel to the old Qaymara axis that connected the agora with the temple in the Hellenistic Era. The Nabatean Quarter was located in the eastern part whereas a military compound occupied the northwest part of the city where the citadel is currently located. The Roman era is also credited with the construction of the Qanawat Canal that provided the city with running water. 

Roman Damascus was endowed with a theater located to the south of Via Recta, the modern Madhat Pasha Suq, between Khan Sulayman Pasha and Hisham Mosque. The edifice had a diameter of 93 meters comparable to Palmyra's Theater that seated about 7,000-9,000 spectators. 

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

Hellenistic Damascus

Remnants of Hellenistic Damascus could still be detected in the Qaymariya Street that used to connect from west to east the religious center of the town (the Temple of Zeus that became that of Jupiter ending-up as the Umayyad Mosque) with its civic and commercial center, the Greek agora (the equivalent of the Roman forum) . The location of the agora is currently occupied by an irregular maze of narrow alleys of medieval provenance.  A hippodrome was constructed northwest of the city north of the modern King Faysal Street at the location currently occupied by the Dahdah Cemetery. According to some a Greek fortress occupied the northwest corner of the city where the actual citadel currently stands.

The most important cities in the Hellenistic Era were Antioch in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt. Like Apamea, Jerusalem, and Tyre; Damascus was at the time a second tier city with a surface area about half that of the Seleucid capital at the Orontes in the north.

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

Aramean Damascus

Aramean Damascus occupied a small part of the old city as we currently know it. It was located on a ridge south of the River Barada and we can distinguish 4 small mounds 2-5 meters above the land surface that are thought to hide the debris of the Aramean city. The most important of those is Tell al Samak that corresponds to a location called by the Arab conquerors al Barees (an Aramean word) though some suggest that it hides the remains of the much more recent Roman odeon. The palace was probably located north of Tell al Qanatir at the location currently occupied by the Azm Palace whereas the temple of Hadad Ramman was siuated about 300 meters north of the palace at a space currently occupied by the Umayyad Mosque.

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

The River Barada

Barada gives rise to 6 “rivers” or canals at the gorge of Rabwa. Two on its left or northern bank (Yazid and Tora) and four on its right or southern bank (Mezzawi, Derani, Qanawat, Banias). The Yazid canal runs north to the Salihya and Qabun whereas that of Tora passes towards the Jisr Abyad heading to Jobar and Harasta. The Mezzawi naturally heads to Mezza and the Derani to Darya. Banias passes behind the National Museum to reappear north of the Citadel and finally exit the at Bab Touma. The Qanawat irrigates the southern quarters of the old city following Via Recta. After leaving the city the polluted waters gather in what is called River Qleit that continues to the eastern Ghouta. The oldest of these canals is that of Tora as it goes all the way back to the Aramean era. Derani, Mezzawi, Qanawat, Banias are Romans whereas Yazid dates from the times of the Umayyads 

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

The Origins of Damascus

The inhabitants of Damascus and Aleppo dispute for their respective towns the honor of being the oldest in the world. Perhaps Aleppo's claim is closer to reality but those boasts are wildly exaggerated even within the confinements of geographical Syria which was dominated in the Bronze Age by three cities: Mari, Ugarit, and Ebla. The first mention of Damascus -and it was only in passing- was in the 15th Century B.C. during the reign of the Pharaoh Thutmose the 3rd as recorded in the registers of Karnak and Amarna (14th Century B.C.). The land of Damascus was far from ideal to settled agriculture on a wide scale back in the 2nd Millennium B.C. as it was far from trade routes for one thing and as Barada's waters were largely wasted in marshes surrounding a ridge by the river and ideal for endemic diseases such as malaria and typhoid. The emergence of Damascus on the world stage had to await the Aramean age when two seminal events took place: the first was an agricultural revolution made possible with the distribution of Barada's water via man-made canals and the second was a commercial one that manifested itself with the domestication of the camel at the turn of the first millennium B.C. The Agricultural Revolution created the Ghouta whereas the Commercial Revolution transformed Damascus into a hub of transportation along the caravan routes; both created the city's prosperity and diffused its fame far and wide.

Damascus: A History
Ross Burns
ISBN: 9780415413176

A Shameful Episode in the History of Damascus: the 1860 Massacre

Contrary to the lies and half truths that make the stuff out of which our traditional history textbooks are written, until very recently religious tolerance -let alone harmony- was the exception rather than the rule and that was true in Syria and elsewhere (the Muslim's description of minorities in the unedited version of the Arabian Nights is quite enlightening)

A case in point is the Damascus Affair of 1840 when the city's Christians accused its Jews of killing Father Thomas and his servant in order to use their blood in their bakery. The Christians solicited the aid of the governor of Damascus who put the suspects to torture (including caning and squeezing the genitals) thus succeeding in making them "confess" and even in converting one of the Rabbis to Islam in order save his skin. Sadly many until nowadays still believe this preposterous libel to be truthful and none other than Mustafa Tlas provided his contribution in a silly book entitled "The Matzo of Zion"

Twenty years later it was the Christians' turn

L'Univers illustré . 1859-1860, t. 3, p.281

Constructing a road between the Citadel and the Omayyad Mosque August 1984

The mandatory authorities assigned the architect Michel Écochard and the urbanist R. Danger the task of creating a plan for the future development of Damascus. The plan thus conceived could be summarized in two parts. Part One was concerned with protecting the Ghouta by orienting the expansion of the residential area away (which of course did not materialize); and Part Two exposing the main monuments though the construction of wide thoroughfares crisscrossing the old city (an adaptation of Baron Haussmann's plan for Paris in the second half of the 19th Century) while allowing long distance travellers to bypass the city through an elaborate net of highways. The works started in earnest in 1936 and included creating public gardens and the National Museum of Damascus west of the Tekya.

The application of the second part of the plan accelerated in 1983 with uncovering the Citadel (which entailed the demolition of Suq el Khuja and the western end of Suq el Hamidya) along with destroying several buildings next to the entrance of the Omayyad Mosque. The wreckage extended to Suq Saruja and parts of the Midan Quarter before the pressure of UNESCO and others caused the powers that be to halt their "modernization" and save what's left. 



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Damas-R%C3%A9pertoire-Iconographique-Degeorge/dp/2738414087

The Development of the Muhajireen Quarter

Many are under the impression that the Muhajireen Quarter began as a shelter to refugees from the island of Crete in the last decade of the 19th century but this is neither precise nor quite accurate.

As could be seen in this simplified plan, the first refugees from Rumelia were settled in a small group of dwellings in 1895-1896. The second wave came from Crete in 1900. The areas occupied by these two groups were located 500 meters west of the ancient Salihyia Quarter. They were rather limited in extension and uncultivated since their inhabitants had to carry water from the Yazid Canal, located 30 meters below their modest homes.

The real beginning of the Muhajireen neighborhood was after 1905 and specifically after harnessing the necessary water to be stored in the tank (see attached picture) between 1903-1908. This made practicable the operation of dividing the space into spacious lots to be occupied with elegant houses favored with a superb view of the city. The inauguration of the Marja-Muhajireen Tramway line was to play a vital role in the expansion of the urban tissue thus created.

Seen on the left of the plan is the location of Nazim Pasha's villa and about the middle that of the famous Mastaba or platform where Kaiser Wilhelm II contemplated Damascus during his visit of 1898. 

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The Transfer of the Administrative and Governmental Center of Late Ottoman Damascus

For centuries, the administrative and commercial activities in Damascus had been concentrated inside the walls of the Old City in the western neighborhood and for the most part around the Omayyad Mosque. This rule remained in effect until mid 19th century when several factors combined to re-orient the city from south (Mecca and the pilgrimage caravan) to West (Beirut) and from long distance and land-bound to regional and sea-bound commerce. The opening of the Damascus-Beirut road in 1863 was a first step in this direction and events were to accelarate under the energetic governorship of Midhat Pasha. Numerous vital projects were achieved in 4 decades (1880-1920) some of the most important were:

1. The Muzayrib Railroad starting from the Baramka Station in 1894.

2. The Hamidyia Casern (adjacent to Baramka Station). It took over some of the functions formerly belonging to the Citadel, the latter having lost its military importance and its surrounding ditch filled to allow for the expansion of Suq al-Hamidyia and  creation of Suq al-Khuja. The casern buildings were subsequently converted to a different use, namely to house Damascus University and itsLaw School. 

3. The buildings of Municipality, Post & Telegraph,  Hall of Justice at the Marja Square that had replaced Suq Sarouja as a hub for transportation.

4. The Hijaz Railway Station.

5. The New Serai (government building) on the right bak of the River Barada.

Last but not least, between its caserns and depots, the army occupied a vast surface of about 46,000 square meters whereas the tram as well as railway stations filled the even more imposing surface of 57,000 square meters. 

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The Elaboration of a Transportation Network in Late Ottoman Damascus

With the inauguration of Damascus-Beirut Road in 1863, carriage and stagecoach started to replace beasts of burden. Several similar projects followed with the purpose of facilitating regional commerce. Some of the most important are: Suq al-Sinanyia  west of intra-muro Damascus towards al-Midan and Hauran in the south, al-Aqsab Avenue in the north all the way to the road to Aleppo, al-Nasr (Victory) Boulevard west of Suq -al_hamidyia. The banks of Barada River were paved and the tramway began with the lines of Midan and the Salihyia Avenue effective 1906. As for the street network inside the walls of the old City the following were enlarged and improved: Via Recta (Suq Midhat Pasha was inaugurated in 1879), Suq al-Buzuryia 1879, the eastern part of Suq al-Hamidyia (1883-1884), Suq al-Arwam (southwest of Suq-al-Hamidyia) 1894, Suq al-Asrunyia 1885-1886, and many more.


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Damascus Circa 1860

Damascus map as published in an archeological quide of the Orient by A. Chauvet & E Isambert in 1882. It is based on the work of Eugène-Guillaume Rey completed about 1860. The level of precision is astonishing and would not be surpassed until the second or even third decade of the 20th century. We here encounter a far more comprehensive map including the suburbs of Salihiya (still separated from the Old City) and the Midan in its entirety. The work therefore went beyond what would be encountered in a traditional touristic guide and was of a more scholarly nature. It should be kept in mind that until the first half of the 19th centurry, maps of Damascus were largely confined to the city intra-muro and its immediate suburbs and for obvious reasons: those who designed them were exclusively European travellers, scholars, and missionaries interested first and foremost with pre-Islamic landmarks, Roman and -particularly- Christian. Needless to say the bulk of those monuments were located inside the city wall.


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